Dragonball M, Chapter 3: In Blood, Bone, and Ash! The Way Forward Unlocked!

[grampagen]

“Arthur.”

She looks about it all, heading turning left and right.

“My ancestors. And yours apparently. Lost history we were never told or allowed to know.”

"Speak for yourself."

Around them were deposits of rusted weaponry, and a number of tomes covered with calcified dust. Whatever qualities this place had as either an archive or a weapons hall had been eroded with whatever pushed this city beneath the continental shelf. If there was any chance anything real could be salvaged, that would be at the gradual pace of the machines.

They had waited long enough. They could not wait any longer.

Familiar despair wrung itself within her chest, but as the hope of discovery fell away from her, it was almost numbing the way her disappointment stemmed itself, bottled up deep inside her.

"I know my roots very well, Colonel. And my people come from a world apart from whatever this is."

Sired from the Wandering Master, to Rama the Tiger King. Taught to uphold the skills necessary to fight, to protect those who could not. The legacy of two-thousand years had that passed to Kaibyo and her.

Losing all of that drove her forward for almost eight years now, along with all of those who took up the Red mantle.

But there was one thing she was certain of, and that was the faded, unspoken tale etched around them. Kenshiko widened her eyes and they seemed to absorb the darkness held in those obscured shapes carved in the walls and shattered dome of the ancient library.

Again and again, the Dragon arrived, come to crush the world beneath him. From sky, to sea, the plains, the peaks, the Dragon preyed upon peoples and doomed civilizations time and again. By pain of tooth and claw, again and again it assailed the world, and when it rallied them, ancient terrors were brought into its thrall to enact the submission of humankind. In its great shadow, armies of darkness gathered under this uncanny shape. Kings lost their crowns. In their fear, untold glamour and utter submission.

The apparent shape of this tale was one distressingly familiar to Kenshiko. Girimekhala.

There might be figments, familiar patterns, but sometimes there are no answers. Unless there was something connecting this creature with That Man, she was only hoping to find something in the parallels that might not be there.

Her hands clench.

“Enough to end the President.”

"How?"

So far this expedition had been less than productive, but before she could write it off, there was one thing she had yet to see with her own eyes.

"You never mentioned how you found this place," Kenshiko said as she continued to forge ahead. "All I know is you found the Major in this pit."

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"Speak for yourself."

Around them were deposits of rusted weaponry, and a number of tomes covered with calcified dust. Whatever qualities this place had as either an archive or a weapons hall had been eroded with whatever pushed this city beneath the continental shelf. If there was any chance anything real could be salvaged, that would be at the gradual pace of the machines.

They had waited long enough. They could not wait any longer.

Familiar despair wrung itself within her chest, but as the hope of discovery fell away from her, it was almost numbing the way her disappointment stemmed itself, bottled up deep inside her.

"I know my roots very well, Colonel. And my people come from a world apart from whatever this is."

Sired from the Wandering Master, to Rama the Tiger King. Taught to uphold the skills necessary to fight, to protect those who could not. The legacy of two-thousand years had that passed to Kaibyo and her.

Losing all of that drove her forward for almost eight years now, along with all of those who took up the Red mantle.

But there was one thing she was certain of, and that was the faded, unspoken tale etched around them. Kenshiko widened her eyes and they seemed to absorb the darkness held in those obscured shapes carved in the walls and shattered dome of the ancient library.

Again and again, the Dragon arrived, come to crush the world beneath him. From sky, to sea, the plains, the peaks, the Dragon preyed upon peoples and doomed civilizations time and again. By pain of tooth and claw, again and again it assailed the world, and when it rallied them, ancient terrors were brought into its thrall to enact the submission of humankind. In its great shadow, armies of darkness gathered under this uncanny shape. Kings lost their crowns. In their fear, untold glamour and utter submission.

The apparent shape of this tale was one distressingly familiar to Kenshiko. Girimekhala.

There might be figments, familiar patterns, but sometimes there are no answers. Unless there was something connecting this creature with That Man, she was only hoping to find something in the parallels that might not be there.



"How?"

So far this expedition had been less than productive, but before she could write it off, there was one thing she had yet to see with her own eyes.

"You never mentioned how you found this place," Kenshiko said as she continued to forge ahead. "All I know is you found the Major in this pit."

“Not in the pit, on the outside of the base itself. As if he had dragged himself there and simply....stopped.”

She turns and looks at Kenshiko.

“As for the base.........after Vermillion fell, I had less and little. What I did recall, faintly, was an ancient legend that my father once told me: a secret place that only the Lion knew of, a place where the Schools and we, our blood, were tied to. Bastard though he was, Simon Battersea was the last Lion Master. He knew things, old things handed down in secret: this location was one of them. When I arrived here I found Damask, and he activated and recognized my blood somehow. I thought it a sign. I just never knew how...deep it all went until recently.”

[grampagen]

Ro doesn’t seem displeased at the display. Rather, he seems quite proud of Zaofan’s talent and skill.

“That was most impressive, Zaofan. Truly. Your skill is impressive and you honor me with it.”

He bows to Zaofan, then risks and looks upon Sasheem.

"You think so? Heh, well I've managed to get by so far," he shrugged, "and I still have a long ways to go besides."

Sasheem sniffed as he stood up, still fuming. It honestly hadn't occurred to him just how much he'd been left out of until Zaofan showed off techniques he had no knowledge of.

Still it didn't matter. What the Majin lacked in quantity, he could make up in his concentrated studies of the handful of styles he knew. His quest to master the Snake School's ultimate technique would require no less. Centuries of lost history and then some resided within Sasheem and through Balon's training he knew how to further utilize them towards their maximum potential. "Excuse Sasheem if he doesn't have as many techniques to show off, but if you really wanna see what the sole heir of the Snake School has inherited..."

Sasheem quickly motioned his arms until his right stood pointed out in front of him, his left held behind in reserve as both limbs quickly cycled through various motions, imitating the precise movements of a viper, readying it's fangs to lash out and strike.

With a subtle motion, he shot a small ki blasts shoots into the grass below, nearly undetectable thanks to swift usage of The Spider's Blessing.

The small blast kicked up a single blade of grass and from Sasheem's knuckles grew razor sharp blades of The Bear's Clawsas he took a ferocious stance, before shifting swiftly back into the quicky and snappy strikes of the Snake School, jabbing at the blade of grass several dozen times within the span of a few seconds.

The single blade spun around in mid-air, looking no different, despite being the Majin's assaults....until one gazed upon it with closer inspection to witness several tiny holes pierced into it. The holes began to fizzle, soon consuming the grass into nothingness with Venomous Ki.

Suddenly, shifting into his Naga Palm technique, multiple arms still emerging from his body, Sasheem took a stance reminiscent of that of a crouching spider, masking his ki again before firing a blasts from each of his hands off into the distance.

The blasts began to circle around the skies, back towards their target, Sasheem himself. The Majin smirked as he raised up both his arms, taking a stance and utilizing a yet to he unveiled technique that he had developed whilst training under Balon. "Daijinryuu-Ken!" Both arms became coated in Katchin....but then became serated, not unlike the hardened scales of the great beasts summoned from the Dragon Balls.

Sasheem took the brunt of all seven blasts, and while the force of each skidded back, until he swiped both arms forward and the blasts suddenly dispersed.

Returning to the hill he had previously sat upon, Sasheem took a seat once more. "So, master of masters," The Majin added with a hint of mockery. "Whadjya think of that?"

“Impressive. A bit...unorthodox at the last, but an excellent display.”

Always near to his mind for the Martial Chef was the Majin in their midst. Even though he'd sworn to turn things around...

...well Sasheem had said a lot of things. Caught him off-guard, he'd once called him a friend.

But if Zxu'ro's memory is here, then do we even need him to recover the Snake School?

When Sasheem took off to his exhibition, Zaofan found he could read a handful of his moves, but as the techniques grew increasingly more complex, so did their nuances become further pronounced.

He's only here to learn the methods out of spite, after all...

But the silence of the envenomed Bear's Claws, the subtle shifts with such precise control over that single blade of grass dancing in his wake, the whipping motions were complimented deftly with the shifting mass of the Majin's rubbery frame. Zaofan leaned forward, perched upon his staff as he keenly followed the artful demonstration. For a moment he even found himself trying to follow along.

Dragon's fang arcs upwards, transitioning into the flow of ki, and then-

Just as soon as his arm extended in mimicry, so did it soften as Sasheem unveiled his hidden techniques, striking them into himself and stood unfazed.

He couldn't help but squeeze out a nod and a smile - though he loathed just how impressive he found it all.

"Bah, unorthodox is what gets the drop on jabronis," Sasheem sneered. "But now that we've finished showin' off, how 'bout we get back on track, huh?"

“Of course. What did you and Zaofan come seeking here, Sasheem? I have three Hidden Techniques, the Genki-Dama is the first. Have you come to learn the second?”

"Well, uh, I've already learned the Genki-Dama." Sort of. "We wouldn't be here without it, right?"

The whys and hows still eluded him, but Ochazuke had entrusted him with this task-

Oh! That's right!

"And we're not alone, either. The Master of the Dragon School led us to this place, though he's departed to collect my martial brother, the man who crafted the energy to unseal the door. He's surely on his way soon."

He cocked his head to the side, and looked at Young Ro from this tilted view.

"I hate to be the bearer of rather unfortunate news, but the world has changed a great deal from when you left it."

[grampagen]

“Not in the pit, on the outside of the base itself. As if he had dragged himself there and simply....stopped.”

She turns and looks at Kenshiko.

“As for the base.........after Vermillion fell, I had less and little. What I did recall, faintly, was an ancient legend that my father once told me: a secret place that only the Lion knew of, a place where the Schools and we, our blood, were tied to. Bastard though he was, Simon Battersea was the last Lion Master. He knew things, old things handed down in secret: this location was one of them. When I arrived here I found Damask, and he activated and recognized my blood somehow. I thought it a sign. I just never knew how...deep it all went until recently.”

"Sounds like Simon was keen on making investments," Kenshiko muttered. Moreover, it seemed as if keeping secrets ran in the family. The World's Strongest Man pushed himself directly into the line of Kings to guarantee a place in legend.

"But as soon as he found a quicker way to the top, he left."

They both knew well what happened that day. There was no sense ripping open old wounds again.

"All that knowledge and capital. And where did that leave him?"

Keeping the world weak in submission to you, was that your path to strength, Battersea? Even crowning himself the World Champion was not enough, he'd sought to reach into entire other realms and take them for himself.

The explicit mention of this Lion School, however, managed to provoke just a little more disdain from her. Where she carried the energy flare upon her hand, the light glanced off her bare teeth and quaking jaw. Straightening her arm, she bound her hand into a fist before her.

"No vision past this. A true master should know better."

Coming into the full knowledge of one of the lost schools of Zxu'ro, the only thing he'd done with it was use its techniques to destroy another for ransom.

So unlike you, Zosui. But then again, you were never in it for yourself.

No matter how much distance she put between herself and that night, every time she looked into a mirror she would continue to see her sister's face staring back at her. No doubt it was the same for the last student they shared.

Wait for me.

"It's going to take something more substantial than a story to turn this around. I don't suppose your father left anything useful if he could take it for himself."

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"You think so? Heh, well I've managed to get by so far," he shrugged, "and I still have a long ways to go besides."





Always near to his mind for the Martial Chef was the Majin in their midst. Even though he'd sworn to turn things around...

...well Sasheem had said a lot of things. Caught him off-guard, he'd once called him a friend.

But if Zxu'ro's memory is here, then do we even need him to recover the Snake School?

When Sasheem took off to his exhibition, Zaofan found he could read a handful of his moves, but as the techniques grew increasingly more complex, so did their nuances become further pronounced.

He's only here to learn the methods out of spite, after all...

But the silence of the envenomed Bear's Claws, the subtle shifts with such precise control over that single blade of grass dancing in his wake, the whipping motions were complimented deftly with the shifting mass of the Majin's rubbery frame. Zaofan leaned forward, perched upon his staff as he keenly followed the artful demonstration. For a moment he even found himself trying to follow along.

Dragon's fang arcs upwards, transitioning into the flow of ki, and then-

Just as soon as his arm extended in mimicry, so did it soften as Sasheem unveiled his hidden techniques, striking them into himself and stood unfazed.

He couldn't help but squeeze out a nod and a smile - though he loathed just how impressive he found it all.





"Well, uh, I've already learned the Genki-Dama." Sort of. "We wouldn't be here without it, right?"

The whys and hows still eluded him, but Ochazuke had entrusted him with this task-

Oh! That's right!

"And we're not alone, either. The Master of the Dragon School led us to this place, though he's departed to collect my martial brother, the man who crafted the energy to unseal the door. He's surely on his way soon."

He cocked his head to the side, and looked at Young Ro from this tilted view.

"I hate to be the bearer of rather unfortunate news, but the world has changed a great deal from when you left it."

Ro nods.

“I had figured. Peril never rests for too long, and though the faces change, heroes and villains will always contend against one another.”

He smiles.

“We shall await your allies then. Once they arrive, I shall train and impart the second of my techniques: The Art of Fusion.”

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"Sounds like Simon was keen on making investments," Kenshiko muttered. Moreover, it seemed as if keeping secrets ran in the family. The World's Strongest Man pushed himself directly into the line of Kings to guarantee a place in legend.

"But as soon as he found a quicker way to the top, he left."

They both knew well what happened that day. There was no sense ripping open old wounds again.

"All that knowledge and capital. And where did that leave him?"

Keeping the world weak in submission to you, was that your path to strength, Battersea? Even crowning himself the World Champion was not enough, he'd sought to reach into entire other realms and take them for himself.

The explicit mention of this Lion School, however, managed to provoke just a little more disdain from her. Where she carried the energy flare upon her hand, the light glanced off her bare teeth and quaking jaw. Straightening her arm, she bound her hand into a fist before her.

"No vision past this. A true master should know better."

Coming into the full knowledge of one of the lost schools of Zxu'ro, the only thing he'd done with it was use its techniques to destroy another for ransom.

So unlike you, Zosui. But then again, you were never in it for yourself.

No matter how much distance she put between herself and that night, every time she looked into a mirror she would continue to see her sister's face staring back at her. No doubt it was the same for the last student they shared.

Wait for me.

"It's going to take something more substantial than a story to turn this around. I don't suppose your father left anything useful if he could take it for himself."

“Useful here or useful in general? The answer to the latter is......interesting. Dear old dad had most of his stuff seized by the government. I...do....have a few things: he left a rather..detailed...list of people and places he had gathered intelligence on. The President included. He...he is not what he appears to be.”

[grampagen]

“Useful here or useful in general? The answer to the latter is......interesting. Dear old dad had most of his stuff seized by the government. I...do....have a few things: he left a rather..detailed...list of people and places he had gathered intelligence on. The President included. He...he is not what he appears to be.”

"To get off as long as he did, stands to reason they'd come to collect when he stopped paying," She muttered. "Don't keep me in suspense, Colonel."

Pacing past a column, its foundation partially fused to the wall by the cavernous drippings, Kenshiko observed the crystalline veins built into the foundational makeup began to lose some of their lustre. Where she led with the energy gripped in her palm, the light no longer seemed to resonate upon a clear path.

Winding down the derelict, the faded reliefs put upon the walls had collapsed under a cave-in.

"The Dragon was starting to look more like a Devil," she remarked. "Wonder how this story was supposed to end."

Still, despite the wreckage, some things refused to stay buried. Fiery glints in the shadows collected themselves as they moved further into the darkness, slowly revealing a corroded, green metallic face, nestled under a shattered crown, impaled beneath a vicious spire.

"Looks like we've found the Major's brothers." Her words were clinical, but there was an eerie quality about this place that seemed to separate it beyond its unadorned enclosure. The air was particularly damp, and within the energy a sense of corrosion as if everything within the chamber had been stricken lifeless; a graveyard of half-finished Golems.

There was no time to mourn for things that would never draw a breath, she continued to press forward to find the one thing she could make any sense of.

"No ****. Our boys topside know The President of the W.G. has no interest in actually governing the world. He always had his sights set on the stars."

And wiped out anyone between him and his goal.

"It's what he pays Pantaloon for, but the prettyboy in his own words said they don't exactly have a cordial working relationship."

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"To get off as long as he did, stands to reason they'd come to collect when he stopped paying," She muttered. "Don't keep me in suspense, Colonel."

Pacing past a column, its foundation partially fused to the wall by the cavernous drippings, Kenshiko observed the crystalline veins built into the foundational makeup began to lose some of their lustre. Where she led with the energy gripped in her palm, the light no longer seemed to resonate upon a clear path.

Winding down the derelict, the faded reliefs put upon the walls had collapsed under a cave-in.

"The Dragon was starting to look more like a Devil," she remarked. "Wonder how this story was supposed to end."

Still, despite the wreckage, some things refused to stay buried. Fiery glints in the shadows collected themselves as they moved further into the darkness, slowly revealing a corroded, green metallic face, nestled under a shattered crown, impaled beneath a vicious spire.

"Looks like we've found the Major's brothers." Her words were clinical, but there was an eerie quality about this place that seemed to separate it beyond its unadorned enclosure. The air was particularly damp, and within the energy a sense of corrosion as if everything within the chamber had been stricken lifeless; a graveyard of half-finished Golems.

There was no time to mourn for things that would never draw a breath, she continued to press forward to find the one thing she could make any sense of.

"No ****. Our boys topside know The President of the W.G. has no interest in actually governing the world. He always had his sights set on the stars."

And wiped out anyone between him and his goal.

"It's what he pays Pantaloon for, but the prettyboy in his own words said they don't exactly have a cordial working relationship."

“The story didn’t end. It just....changed.”

She walks towards Kenshiko, eyes looking at the reliefs.

“What if I told you the Dragon and the Devil are the same. And something else.”

One last relief shows a more humanoid figure with a very, very familiar too wide grin.

“Father met him a few times. Always knew more than he should. Always. Like he could listen without being anywhere near you. I never used to believe it but.......”

Meanwhile, Damask has started tracing a large finger over the other two golems heads.

[grampagen]

“The story didn’t end. It just....changed.”

She walks towards Kenshiko, eyes looking at the reliefs.

“What if I told you the Dragon and the Devil are the same. And something else.”

One last relief shows a more humanoid figure with a very, very familiar too wide grin.

“Father met him a few times. Always knew more than he should. Always. Like he could listen without being anywhere near you. I never used to believe it but.......”

Meanwhile, Damask has started tracing a large finger over the other two golems heads.

The air had been thick since they passed into the fissure breach at the side of the mountain, but as Kenshiko lit the path, she felt the ki sparked by her living breath burn against the endless dark of the cavern.

"Bit of a reach. What are you saying, then, that the destroyer of Arthur's kingdom returned to take it over?"

From this distance they could see very little but their shadows, stretched far into a sinking unknown up ahead. It all sounded insane to her...but the President's seemingly prescient awareness, the climb to a New World Order over the last two decades alone was nothing short of eerie.

"The whispers that turned this civilization to ash turn the world now," Kenshiko mused. "What did Battersea find?"

As they pressed on, it was difficult to not notice that the bulk of their number had shrunk considerably.

"Something caught your eye, Major?"

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

The air had been thick since they passed into the fissure breach at the side of the mountain, but as Kenshiko lit the path, she felt the ki sparked by her living breath burn against the endless dark of the cavern.

"Bit of a reach. What are you saying, then, that the destroyer of Arthur's kingdom returned to take it over?"

From this distance they could see very little but their shadows, stretched far into a sinking unknown up ahead. It all sounded insane to her...but the President's seemingly prescient awareness, the climb to a New World Order over the last two decades alone was nothing short of eerie.

"The whispers that turned this civilization to ash turn the world now," Kenshiko mused. "What did Battersea find?"

As they pressed on, it was difficult to not notice that the bulk of their number had shrunk considerably.

"Something caught your eye, Major?"

“Father narrowed down his suspicions to three possibilities; one, that the President was a long lived alien in origin. There are a few old village stories scattered about the world of the Grinning Man, and many seem remarkably like our leader. Two: that he was some kind of Ifrit or Djinn of some sort. The affinity with smoke, the knowledge, the glowing eyes, they match the legends. Three: that he was something....older. He had known about my father possessing a Dragonball and had commented once about it being a ‘clever trinket, limited but better than her peers’. Father seemed to indicate he thought that mean he either knew the Eternal Dragon somehow and wasn’t impressed, or.......”

She looks at Kenshiko.

“Or that he himself was one too. Older and more dangerous. It was the one time I ever saw my Father actually show fear at that idea.”

Meanwhile, Damask speaks, which is an incredibly rare occurabce.

“Glyphs...of ....awakening. My brothers...to rise once more.”

[grampagen]

“Father narrowed down his suspicions to three possibilities; one, that the President was a long lived alien in origin. There are a few old village stories scattered about the world of the Grinning Man, and many seem remarkably like our leader. Two: that he was some kind of Ifrit or Djinn of some sort. The affinity with smoke, the knowledge, the glowing eyes, they match the legends. Three: that he was something....older. He had known about my father possessing a Dragonball and had commented once about it being a ‘clever trinket, limited but better than her peers’. Father seemed to indicate he thought that mean he either knew the Eternal Dragon somehow and wasn’t impressed, or.......”

She looks at Kenshiko.

“Or that he himself was one too. Older and more dangerous. It was the one time I ever saw my Father actually show fear at that idea.”

Meanwhile, Damask speaks, which is an incredibly rare occurabce.

“Glyphs...of ....awakening. My brothers...to rise once more.”

On the field whether they had to break through or force and evac, Major Damask had been instrumental as a force-multiplier. How many missions would have gone to **** unless he was there to break the kill box? She'd seen first hand how bombs and mortars bounced off of him, and so long as he had a foothold there'd be nothing between him and the target. When more faces emerged from the mineral surface below the basee, she'd been sure there'd at least been some asset they could tap into.

But when the hands of stone brushed against the buckled metal and crystal, she saw within the Golem's porous fingers an unbecoming gentleness in his measured grasp.

More than mere weapons. Brass and pyrite and hardened gems nestled in the Earth, but they could not escape the strata of shifting stone. Even you've been taken from your purpose.

But where they lay, there was nothing that they could do about that right now. Kenshiko returned to the matter of a different sort of monster.

"He did put a lot of stake in wishes, didn't he?" If only it was ever that easy. "I suppose it would only be a matter of time before Battersea tried to worm himself into the highest office in the world, he never had enough to call his own. Suppose they had been on the same side? What kind of a world that would have been."

Monsters and men. Before, she'd thought she'd known where the line was drawn, and she'd borne it as her lineage masters had. Each of the Five Schools rose at an age two-thousand years ago when the Obushi-sennin fought for humanity to save itself from a strangling darkness. It cost the Master of Five his life and his lineage.

"Say he is the Dragon. It won't be enough to drive him out, he'll be back over, and over, and over again."

On the far side of the stretch of darkness, the light Kenshiko carried at last managed to catch the surface of something in the distance. There was a strange little alcove was hollowed out of the wall, untouched. Within it was a certain energy. She felt its pulse carry itself within her.

"I want to know how we kill that son of a bitch."

[MrSandman]

Neither tomb nor sanctuary. This is a living passage between the worlds.

Planting the flat of his fist downward, Arthur's ring pressed flat against the orichalum substance of the chamber floor.

"Nobody comes to this place by chance...was the death of your kingdom merely by chance as well?" Ochazuke faced downward, his voice tightened with a silent rage. The creatures that sang her worship, they were once human; their flesh stretched to vapour now reconstituted her new physical form.

At the very least, Rex did not put on airs when he twisted a life for his own needs.

"What hope did you have to revive it," Ochazuke continued, "when your charges, you guard, your degenerate heir could not uphold it?"

"Death isn't brought by chance, it is a inevitability in this realm of creation and destruction....the worthless design of petty gods, fixated on their grand empty designs. Avalon is a testament to the inevitability of life in the realm of such gods....Death by design."

Persepone snapped her finger, and the world around the group grew pitch black. "The Death of all things is by design, not chance.......The world is a sea of corpses where the living kick and claw and scream, fight tooth and nail, climbing atop the backs of their kin and foe alike, choking and gasping on the ice cold waters and for what......the illusion of forever being just short of breaking the surface. My people were forced to huddle in the dark, scraping for warmth with the smallest sparks of fire and cowering in fear at every scream and roar in the night would be their last......This was the gift from our creators. Suffering and death by design."

The darkness lifted, and Ochazuke found the Queen of the Void staring at him from arms reach. She had a neutral expression on her face, her eyes however...seemed to be judging him.

"There is no more hope of my reviving this realm then I had in protecting it....when the great ones bestowed their gifts to me, I did everything I could to build a realm for my people where they could be free of such fear. When cold killed my people, I bend the elements to my will and brought endless summer. When disease killed my people and gave them the gift of healing. When enemies threatened I destroyed them. I gave my gifts willingly to those who wished....and Avalon thrived for thousands of years....."

Her eyes dropped to his hand, clenched firmly against the floor. "....the ring.....your so unceremoniously grinding into the floor......belonged to Lord Uther Pendragon." Ochazuke, perceptive as he was, could detect a momentary change in her tone as she mentioned the name. ".......is this fate....that a man such as you would bring this back here after so long. Hmm.....you do have some of his temperament. Maybe not as handsome......." The Queen paused, then let out a audible sigh. "....I'd request its return, but it would only be for sentimentality sake...consider it my reward for your service."

Rising and taking a step back, Persephone gaze passed over the room once again. ".....I'm sure....he is no longer among the living now either. I, this temple.....these ruins......and my dear daughters........they are all that remains of the Avalon of old."

"I would not get comfortable if I were you..." He began, exhaling his rage in order to conduct himself, "Your awakening was merely a side-effect of cleaning up the garbage that was and still is, Avalon." He hoped the venom in his words would twist the knife in what desiccated and frigid heart she had left.

"Oh...and speaking of history.....What is that smell." Persephone sniffed the air, and seemed to chuckle in amusement at some unheard joke. "Surely there must be some mistake....that voice I hear, could be none other then Rex the Destroyer......and yet when I follow it to the source...." She playfully floated her pointer finger until it landed on Rex. "...Oh dear....I remember you being a bit bigger, certainly more intimidating......Could it be, my Kingdom was ravaged by a draconian midget."

She allowed the amused expression to a linger a moment, then sighed. ".....Hmm....now lets see.....I had an idea in my mind for how this day was going to play out. Been molding it in my mind for the last hundred millennia I spent floating the endless realms of the dreamscape. What I was going to say to you....the day I awoke and found you.......What would I say to him, the destroyer of my world. What horrible insults, what mockery, what threats.....how would I make him suffer, how would I satisfy the burning desire to hear the howls of the tormentor of my people. I asked myself this a hundred times....a thousand times....a million times...."

".....and now.....now that we're here together.....I'm compelled to finally say what my thoughts of led me to...." Persephone walked casually up to Rex, slowly....almost predatory in her meander. She was milking the moment for everything it was worth.

"Rex..." Persephone smiled. "I Forgive you."

A Pause.

"I forgive you....because now I can see, you're no more to blame for the fall then the ones before you or the ones after you. You're just another cog in the divine meatgrinder.......born at the bottom, clawing your way up through a sea of blood and bone, keeping yourself afloat on the carrion of your prey. Your as much a victim as anyone......look at you......forced to wear a body that isn't your own, living in an age where your people are all but gone...the last relic of a time long past. No....I can't hate you.....if it hadn't been you it would have been the next wyrm, and if not them......"

Persephone chuckled. "....no.....it had to be you.....you were destined to be the destroyer of the old Avalon......and do you know why? Because given the choice I just love a good underdog story.

The pressure around Rex sudden increased a thousand fold, where he had been able to hold up before....even he was now forced to buckle under her.

"....and what an underdog.....I was watching the day you defeated the god of destruction. I couldn't have been prouder....." A cold hand caresses Rexs face, while pressure holds him still. "....You kept this world safe in my absence....for that, I grant you the boon of your continued existence. But you also destroyed what was mine and took the lives of those whom swore themselves to me.....and so I decree.......that you will never achieve anything again. I will dismantle everything you build. I will dissolve every record of you. I will destroy everything you hold dear....I will crush you under my heel again and again, and I won't feel any pity....any remorse....nor will I feel hate or pleasure. Your existence will be nothing more to me then one casually fixing a crooked vase. I'll break you over and over....until you are alone, hiding in the dark, afraid of even my whispers. Of course....you can reject my boon at any time......just know that it'll only be binding if you do it with your own hand. I'm sure it won't come to that too soon.....but given how Vortigern broke.....I'm prepared for disappointment."

With a sudden forceful push, Rex was sent flying back into the railing of the pit.

[KingofPie]

Ro nods.

“I had figured. Peril never rests for too long, and though the faces change, heroes and villains will always contend against one another.”

He smiles.

“We shall await your allies then. Once they arrive, I shall train and impart the second of my techniques: The Art of Fusion.”

Sasheem raised a brow. "Fusion? Bah..." The Majin folded his arms and looked away. "Just another thing Sasheem ain't got a use for. He's already got absorbtion and once is enough for him not to try it again."

He then leaned in, cupping a hand to the side of his fsce andpointed at Zaofan, "Between you and Sasheem though, most of Earth's defenders nowadays only got about half-a-brain, so maybe fusing'll finally get 'em to put two and two together at first."

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Sasheem raised a brow. "Fusion? Bah..." The Majin folded his arms and looked away. "Just another thing Sasheem ain't got a use for. He's already got absorbtion and once is enough for him not to try it again."

He then leaned in, cupping a hand to the side of his fsce andpointed at Zaofan, "Between you and Sasheem though, most of Earth's defenders nowadays only got about half-a-brain, so maybe fusing'll finally get 'em to put two and two together at first."

“Perhaps, I know Majin can absorb to gain power. However, this technique is temporary and quite useful. Learning it would still be quite handy, Sasheem.”

[KingofPie]

“Perhaps, I know Majin can absorb to gain power. However, this technique is temporary and quite useful. Learning it would still be quite handy, Sasheem.”

Sasheem's brow furrowed further, before eventually shrugging. "Alright, alright, whatever..." Sahseem eventually sighed. "How does this kinda fusion work anyway?" He inquired.

A new chance to learn a new technique wasn't something that should be squandered, the Majin supposed. At least knowledge of what it involved could be somewhat useful.